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Electrolyte Cookies
2 cups oats
3/4 cup grain (
3 cups bran
1 cup molasses
1 cup water (may vary depending upon altitude)
12-24 1-oz. scoops of powdered electrolytes (depends how strong you want
them) Mix all the ingredients together. You should have a consistency a little
thinner than play-doh. If it isn`t wet or sticky enough, add a little
more water or molasses. Place large spoonfuls on a (greased) cookie sheet.
Bake at 325 for 30-40 minutes. These have a tendancy to burn so keep an eye
on them.

Electrolyte Cookies:
>
>3 cups dry cob or rolled/crimped oats 1 cup corn meal
>3 cups whole wheat flour 4 oz Perform N' Win electrolytes
>1/2 cup corn oil 1/4 cup molassas
>1/2 cup brown sugar 1 1/2 cups hot water
>
>Mix all ingredients together. Form into 24 drop cookies and bake on greased
>cookie sheets at 350 degrees for 30-50 minutes or until dry. Or, use muffin
>tins and make muffins; these may take a few minutes longer to cook. Some
>people have had success using other brands of electrolytes, however you may
>need to increase the sugar or molasses to get your horse to eat them.
>If you add more molasses, be careful not to overcook, as they may burn.
>6 cookies/muffins = 1 oz of electrolytes.

I just mixed electrolytes with the smooth store bought apple sauce and used a large deworming syringe and injected it into the corner of the mouth every chance I got when there was water available. This way I knew the horse was getting it weather he wanted it for not.
On a side note I seldom rode competitive rides because they were too slow, I couldn't get off and keep moving forward and every little scrape the horse got was marked against him. I much preferred endurance.

I've tried them a couple of times. Unless they had only a small amount of electrolytes in them I couldn't get my horses to eat them. And you never want to be in the position of having to rely on your horse to eat or drink his electrolytes, because of course, that's when they won't. It's easy to carry electrolytes on the trail with you and just administer them as needed. I like to put a half dose into my horse every hour when in a ride then he'll get whole doses at the vet checks.

I have learned a few things about electrolytes. First, if you try to fit an entire dose into one syringe, then they are so concentrated that they burn and gag your horse. Yes, they will hate them done that way.

Second, your horse's stomach is already too acidic and dumping electrolytes into that tummy is asking for ulcers.

I've had to treat two horses for ulcers and did a lot of experimenting along the way. I got some good advise years ago about using maalox as the carrier for the lytes. I switched to that and saw an improvement. Then i found Pro CMC which is made by Absorbine. It's a pink colored horse maalox. It's basicly calcium and magnesium, both of which your horse needs. it buffers the stomach, it's liquid and the lytes mix up really easily in the stuff and pass thru a syringe really well. But, every time I try to cut back on the Pro CMC and fit a whole dose of lytes into one syringe I find my horse gets a little resistive about taking the stuff. He's one of the horses that I treated for ulcers. Oh, it's far less sticky than mixing with any type of food, like applesauce or yogurt and it doesn't go bac. So you can save left over lytes for a couple of weeks.

My horse just sucks this mix down and the U-7 and Pro-bi help his stomach and gut. He has super gut sounds, eats better than he ever has at rides and I can shoot this stuff into his mouth from the saddle with out a struggle. I use 2 syringes to get a full dose into him but I will do half does frequently while on the trail to replace what he is loosing in sweat. He'll eat immediately after getting a syringe, it doesn't put him off feed or water.

Oh, I carry the mix in Rubbermaid condiment bottles. They have a squeeze top with attached cap. You can fill a syringe quickly without making a mess. I carry the bottle and empty syringe in a water bottle holder on the front of the saddle.

Please don't use water to mix your electrolytes!!! I believe in taste testing this stuff. Just try that lyte and water mix yourself and you'll gag on it. Lyte Now is the same, horrid stuff, puts my horse off his feed immediately. I just tried the new buffered EnduraMax Paste. It was so thick that it took two hands to force it from the syringe, and my horse threw his head all over the place. Nasty stuff, may have a good formula but if it bothers your horse something is wrong.

Great, GREAT information, thank you so much. I have Perform N Win but I've mixed it with a combo water and applesauce.

I have an ulcer and I thought you weren't supposed to take any kind of antacid in conjunction with other medications because it affects the absorption. I assume this is not the case with horses and elytes?

Sorry - one more thing - do you like the Pro CMC better than Maalox? If I were to use Maalox, do you just use ordinary human kind - any flavor? Same amount as the Pro CMC?

we switched to perform n win this year.

at my last ride at the 10 minute hold i put some in a syringe w/ water and my mare literally sucked them down. b/c i was holding her and futzing w/ the syringe, ziploc bag and camelback hose for water, it took me a couple of syringe fulls to get all of that into her mouth and she looked plain disappointed when she realized that was the end.

Electrolytes aren't medication, they are minerals and they already contain calcium and magnesium. The maalox or Pro CMC simply add more and help nuetralize some of that stomach acid. I like the Pro CMC because it's a big jug and I go thru a lot of it when electrolyting. Remember, I'm not only trying to get a dose of electrolytes into my horse, I also want to get enought Pro CMC into him to actually do something. I'm not just using it as a carrier. I tried that and my horse went off his feed. Electrolytes can be harsh on a stomach lining that has already been sloshed by acid repeatedly.

It helps if you read some of the articles about how exercise affect ulceration of the upper area of the stomach. At a walk or halt the liquid (acidic) contents of the stomach sit in the lower part of the stomach which has a lining that is impervious to the acid. Once the horse starts trotting or cantering the stomach contents start sloshing around and the diaphram (sp?) presses against the stomach and pushes the liquid higher in the stomach. The upper walls have a different lining which can be harmed by the stomach acid.

Maalox or Pro CMC will nuetralize some of the acid FOR A SHORT TIME. Antacids only work for 2-3 hours max and that would be a big healthy dose of them. That is why it's a waste of time to use antacids to treat ulcers, you simply can't administer them frequently enough. What does help a lot is allowing the horse to eat forage, before the ride, during the ride, during the vetchecks. One, the salive produced while eating forage is a nuetralizer but most importently, forage in the stomach creates a mat that floats on the top of the stomach liquid and helps prevent sloshing.

This is why you should graze your horse while doing conditioning rides or competing!!!!!

Sorry, off track. Perform N win is very palatable. It has fillers which probably helps make it tastier, it's lemon flavored which seems to be the all-time favorite flavor for horses, is pretty nicely balalnce too. I add a little extra potassium using the NoSalt. If you use maalox you have to be careful, they have numerous different types. You want the very plain one and check the ingredients, it should NOT list aluminum anything, only calcium and magnesium. I can't imagine that the flavor would matter at they all taste like chalk. The Pro CMC has very little flavor either but seems a bit less chemical tasting to me.

I tried the Perfect Balance brand that was rated so highly in a recent publication. In theory the formula looks great and it's very concentrated. So, no fillers, no flavoring, should fit into a single syringe when mixed with the Pro CMC. My horse hated it. I was using it over a three day CTR. I quit using it after the first day as he hardly ate or drank all day and fought me when I tried to syring it into him. I switched back to Perform N Win and he began eating and drinking again.

Oh, my horse also seems to like the Finish Line U-7 which is a nasty smelling liquid used for ulcer prone horses. It's based on aloe vera, liqorice, slippery elm, etc. I started adding it to his ulcer preventing regimen. he's never ate or drank so well as long as I don't get stupid and change things.

I do stupid things occasionally, like going to a ride last weekend without my saddle.

Again, great info. Thank you so much. This has been one of the most helpful threads here yet!

Going to a ride without a saddle. Hmmm. Well, at least you didn't go without your horse! I have read that story online before. Lady got the trailer packed and all the way out the driveway before she realized she'd never loaded the horse! Don't worry. That's why I don't have a kid - I'd leave it at the grocery store.

So can you explain more about what you mean wanting to get enough Pro CMC into your horse to actually do something. What exactly does it do in higher doses? Or are you referring to just neutralizing acid more thoroughly?

I just meant that I want to get enough into him to work as an antacid. May as well, I spent $1000 treating my boy for ulcers a while back so I don't want him to go thru that again.

The interesting thing is, grazing along the trail has such an impact on whether my horse drinks well. Horse's don't realize that eating or drinking something will make their tummies feel better, so if their stomach hurt, they will stop eating and drinking, or at least most of them will. So the grazing keeps adding to the mat of fiber in the stomach and uses saliva to chew. Keeps the tummy safe and trigggers thrist. I don't ride as fast as many riders but it is sooooo worth it to see my horse gobbling up food at the vet checks and drinking well.

Don't listen when people tell you a horse doesn't need to eat between vet checks. He may not need the calories but the rest of his system is so much better off if he eats his way along the trail. For some horses just carying a bag of chopped alfalfa will work.

I carry baby carrots or chopped apples and when I scratch her on the shoulder she knows to turn her head around and grab a bite. Last night I did 12 miles and the first 7 or so she had no interest in grazing. Not even on the tall swamp grass. But after the first 7 or so she wanted to eat so she got 8 or 10 big mouthfulls. Her last mouthfull got dumped because I asked her for a canter, not realizing her mouth was still full. So she just spit it out in a big wad and tore off down the trail. This wad of mauled grass flew past my foot. Poor thing. She's all about going down the trail. When we walked for a few minutes though she got several more big mouthfulls. It just makes me feel so much better to see her eat. She also drank from the river, and two puddles. It seems to me that her demeanor is better when she can have a mental break to eat. Eating seems soothing and breaks up the monotomy. Like looking forward to that coffee break at work.

I've started carrying carrots and apples with me during training rides, to feed my horses. I like them to have something, and both mares if they don't start nibbling at stuff early on - won't eat towards the end.

I've heard a lot of good stuff about perform N' win e-lytes, I think I'm going to buy some.

Right now I'm using Apple Dex, but I'm concerned because I'm not sure if they have bi-carbonates in them or not. Anyone know?

Last night I bought some generic Malox. The brand names all had that aluminum whatever in it. This was the only version which did not, but it doesn't have calcium. It only has magnesium. And I assume the pink bismuth stuff is not good either? I want to try the Pro CMC but I've been dumping money hand over fist on new things and I have to slow it down before I get the Size 10 boot.

Mylanta! They still make a plain antacid. Here is the ingredients of their basic antacid. Notice all the inactive stuff in it? Of course, I can't find an ingredient list for the Pro CMC on-line either.

I totally understand how out of control the $$$$ thing can get. My poor spouse told me he would have to work "'till he died" unless I quit competing horses at some point. Just so you know, I work and bring home a large part of our income too. But he's right, at some point you just gotta say enough, get off my back you monkey named horse, I will not buy one more supplement/saddlepad/trailer!!!!!!!